So angry. Lacey's always had an issue distinguishing rugs from pee pads. She was not spayed when I got her at nearly 2 years old, and also had an awful habit of marking all her blankets as 'hers'. I had her spayed last year, hoping this behavior would stop, as she wouldn't have that hormonal 'urge'. However, it's only gotten worse. Now ANYTHING fabric on the floor gets peed on. ANYTHING. Shirts, blankets, pillows, my poor cat's crinkle sack toy...the list goes on. She'll even pee on her bed and then lie on it.

She's getting progressively worse about this, and I know that she KNOWS she isn't supposed to go on these things. She waits until I'm not looking and then she pees wherever she feels like peeing. She then will go hide somewhere and cower with that classic "I was a bad chihuahua" look on her face I'm sure you're all familiar with...and I never gave her any reason to cower, either as I would NEVER scold for something I didn't catch them doing. That makes no sense to a dog.

I don't leave anything around on the floor myself because I know she'll destroy it. But, with a mischievous cat living here too who carries everything she finds and proudly brings it Lacey to show off...it's impossible to keep things off the floor and away from Lacey.

I'm running out of ideas on how to get her to stop this. I can't catch her in the act...and she's so sensitive that if I scolded her for peeing somewhere she shouldn't, I know she'd hold her pee for days afterwards and make herself sick. The one time she heard/saw me tell the cat off for eating Lacey's food, Lacey didn't eat for three days because she apparently thought I'd get mad at her, too.

I can't train her to only go potty outside for a number of reasons that I really don't need to explain to you all. Just please know that it is definitely not an option. I know there are people on this forum who have had similar issues with their dogs, but I've yet to hear from someone who found a solution.

Also, I have tried leaving her in a small pen with just a pee pad and no bedding, and she gets extremely anxious, depressed, and refuses to go to the bathroom at all while in the pen. If I put any bedding in there at all, she pees on and poops on that instead of the pad and then will lie down in her mess totally carefree about it like that's normal behavior.

I'm no help I'm afraid but I feel so sorry for you! It made me feel anxious just reading your post! Rolo was trained to pee on those shaggy training mat things by the breeder and as a result ALWAYS pees on my bath mat, it goes in the washing machine every flipping day but that's nothing compared to your problem . I hope someone on here can help you. It's such a shame because things like this spoil the fun of owning a chihuahua. Good luck! X

I would start back at basics with her. Tether her to your side whenever she is in her cage. Take her out ever 2 to 3 hours. (When she first wakes up, after meals approx 20 to 40 minutes, after playtime, after naps, and before bedtime)
I would also make sure you are cleaning anything she has went on with a good enzymatic cleaner (I use Natures Miracle.) I have even put Natures Miracle in a friends laundry with dog bedding that her dog had peed on.

I would start back at basics with her. Tether her to your side whenever she is in her cage. Take her out ever 2 to 3 hours. (When she first wakes up, after meals approx 20 to 40 minutes, after playtime, after naps, and before bedtime)
I would also make sure you are cleaning anything she has went on with a good enzymatic cleaner (I use Natures Miracle.) I have even put Natures Miracle in a friends laundry with dog bedding that her dog had peed on.

Have you ruled out a UTI or something else medical?

Anything she went on is always cleaned...but the point is that she's not really marking anymore...she's just peeing on whatever she wants to pretend is a pee pad.
It's nothing medical. She's healthy as can be and this isn't something that just randomly started. It was a minor problem that's gotten worse of over the course of a year....She's just a STUBBORN mule of girl. She's darn lucky she's cute.

Has anything in her environment changed? Like new people or pets, less attention than before, noise, food, routines? They pick up on every detail of our lives. Being totally detached from him, (without holding a leash, I mean) Angel can tell if someone comes in that is not such a friendly person!

So something could have changed without you even realizing it, and it could be affecting her. As long as she is fine, I would go back to basics. I know you said she reacts adversely to being crated, but maybe tethering her. It's difficult when you are not there constantly.

Bella never liked being crated and we stared with her when she was only 4 months old. She would always pee and poo in her bed. We then made a bigger pen area for her with her pee pad but she would still pee and poo in her bed. We then progressed to blocking her off in the kitchen. No improvement. She would then also pee on kitchen floor always! Finally , dont know why, i started letting her sleep with us and have run of the house. I put away her crate and bedding. She stopped!!! Dont know why other than to say she craved closeness to us so extremely that she show us by her bad behavior. We still have occassional issue of peeing in kitchen but rarely. Useually when she is stressed by sonething.

I think maybe you should get a behavorist on board. Maybe they can figure out whats wrong.? Tethering is a good idea too. I would take her bed out of the pen during the day for sure. Leave the door open. Then every couple of hours I would put her in the pen and tell her "go potty". Close the door until she goes. Could you get some pee on a pad and put the pad in the pen? Might help her.

If Douglas is stressed he poos on the floor and slinks around with the "I was bad" look.

Are there any stressors? My boy did this a lot before my stepmom went out of town and only once since then, I dread her coming back. He's more prone to it when I am anxious or angry. (and stepmom does both I am not fond of her at all)